Be afraid, be very afraid: This year’s election scares the heck out of us

This election year is unprecedented in modern U.S. political history. The two viable candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, are the least liked in history. It might be after Halloween, but this year Election Day is going to be much scarier.

A poll conducted by the Tornado Times revealed that the vast majority of students think either of the probable outcomes to be somewhat or extremely scary. A Trump presidency would scare 73 percent of those surveyed while 52 percent find the prospect of a Clinton presidency scary. Although both candidates are undoubtedly flawed, we cannot pretend that they are in any way equal.

Conservative news outlets have painted Clinton in a harsh light because of her involvement, or lack thereof, with the attack on U.S. diplomatic compounds in Benghazi, Libya. They accused Secretary Clinton of neglecting the pleas for help from an ambassador concerning security measures, which ultimately led to the death of four American citizens..

Seven million dollars and another seven congressional inquiries later, Clinton was cleared of any wrongdoing. But the scandal and biased coverage has left the secretary with a damaged reputation.

This, coupled with a private email server used during her tenure as secretary of state, has ignited widespread feelings of distrust and deceit among many Americans. Without an inkling of doubt, her use of a private email server was reckless. While the FBI director, James Comey, has recommended no charges to the Department of Justice, voters and/or students find this to be a scary lapse in judgement.

This scandal is perceived as scary because any of our nation’s enemies could have hacked her email, for it isn’t as protected as a government email server. While the FBI has said that there is no evidence of any hacking, the best hackers rarely leave any footprints.

As scary as the prospect of a Hillary Clinton administration is, a Trump administration unnerves us more.

In Trump’s very first campaign speech he described Mexican immigrants as “criminals” and “rapists.” He has since proposed to build a massive, expensive wall that Mexico is going to pay for. The president of Mexico has said, in no uncertain terms, that it will not pay for said wall.

Since then, he has gone back and forth with the idea of banning Muslims altogether. The idea is not only unconstitutional, but also Islamophobic and based on an irrational mindset that all Muslims are extremists.

More recently, a video has come to light regarding Trump’s attitude toward women. Trump, “because he is a star,” can grab whosever genitalia he pleases. This may not come as a surprise to some voters, for this type of behavior is completely in character of “the Donald.”

A constant claim that he is an “incredible” businessman is nearly discredited by his 1995 tax returns, reported by the New York Times. His tax returns declared a loss of nearly $1 billion from his Atlantic City casinos.

His failure to release his tax returns, a ritual in which every presidential candidate since Nixon has partaken, has been basked in lies and deceptions. He has constantly claimed that because he is under audit by the IRS, so he cannot release his tax returns.

This claim has been debunked by dozens of major media outlets, the IRS and Warren Buffett, who was invoked by Trump as another billionaire who paid no federal income tax during his second debate with Clinton. (Buffet’s promptly released his tax returns, disproving Trump’s claim.

Trump’s lack of respect for the truth, constant berating of minorities, women and immigrants, and his child-like temperament render him unfit to serve as our country’s president.